Luca absorbed that without comment.
“And the women?”Mara asked quietly.
Elias didn’t soften, but his answer was precise.“We don’t rush.We track the holding pattern.Supplies.Transfers.Anyone who gets paid to keep them alive becomes part of the map.When they move them, we follow and take them back.”
“No heroics,” Mateo added.“No spooking them into selling or killing assets.”
Elias nodded once.“Time works for us if we’re patient.The traitor wants control.The women are leverage.We take away both—slowly, until we find out where they are holding the women, then we strike fast.”
Everyone agreed.
Because Elias didn’t give orders lightly.
When it was done, chairs scraped softly as they stood.Dominic and Rafael moved first.Kol’s presence faded upstairs.Mateo lingered—just long enough to look between them.
“I’ll give you a minute,” he said to Mara.Then to Luca.“Don’t waste it.”
Then he turned to leave.
“Mara,” Luca said.
She paused.
He swallowed.“Please.Stay.Talk with me.”
For a long moment, he thought she wouldn’t.
Then she nodded.Once.Careful.“Okay,” she said.“But we talk.Not you deciding what I need and how it needs to happen.”
“Deal,” he said.
The door closed behind the others.
The house settled into a hush that felt heavier for being earned.
Luca didn’t move at first.He stood where he was, hands loose at his sides, the distance between them deliberate.He looked at her—really looked—taking in the set of her shoulders, the way she held herself like someone who had decided where the line was and intended to keep it.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
The words were plain.No conditions.No explanations waiting in the wings.
She watched him for a long beat.“For what?”
“For trying to decide your life for you,” he said quietly.“For letting my fear turn into control.For talking about you instead of to you.”His jaw tightened.“For hurting you when I promised I wouldn’t.”
Her breath left her in a slow exhale.“You scared me,” she said.Not accusing.Just true.“Not because of what’s out there.Because of what you were willing to do to keep me safe.”
He nodded.“I know.”
Another pause.Then she stepped closer, careful, measured.“I need to know you hear me,” she said.“That you’ll stop before you cross that line again.”
“I hear you,” he said immediately.“And if I start to slide—”
“I’ll tell you,” she finished.“And you’ll listen.”
“I will.”
She searched his face, weighing the promise.Then she nodded once.“Okay.”
